Happiness is Thriving

We all root for characters that can turn their lives around. From the first chapter or those opening scenes in a movie, we see them simply existing, perhaps unaware that there’s something better for them or just coming awake to the realization that there is.

People are like that too. We have seasons in our life where we’re existing, surviving. Perhaps it’s an illness or a heartbreak or a disappointment. Whatever it is, we start shrinking. It’s like our spirit literally contracts inside us.

As I wander through my garden this spring, it feels like the perfect metaphor for my characters…and well, me. I am thriving. I’ve had my share of all of the above, but like the Holy Grail that characters seek out, I found the healing waters needed to nourish me and bring me back to life. Once there, the good stuff starts pouring in. My spirit started expanding like new buds on my English rose bush until there are thousands of them literally within days.

Happiness is thriving.

I’ve had some interesting conversations with people lately, and it’s pretty obvious what stage they are in. Surviving or existing is tough. The skies feel constantly cloudy, there’s little passion in our lives, and we often walk around confused or overwhelmed. Then there’s the other stage of finding that internal Holy Grail, the healing waters of our true nature and our divine purpose. As someone who’s changed her entire life in the last few years, I can say firsthand that this stage takes courage. But we receive glimpses of that golden cup along the way when we are tired and want to give up. Yet in those moments, we realize we don’t want to go back to where we came from. Just surviving and existing isn’t enough. We are made for so much more. Once we know how to drink from that golden cup all of the time, we start to thrive. Everything changes, both inside and out.

Where are you in your human experience? It takes real courage to look, and sometimes, we are blind to where we are, especially when we’re in survival and existing mode. In that stage, our senses are numb because of all the pain we have left unresolved inside ourselves.

My current heroine in THE CHOCOLATE GARDEN is going through all of these steps, and as the writer, her best friend, it’s a privilege and an honor to watch her journey and transformation to thriving again—our true nature. The same is true for the “real” people in my own circle who journey with me from time to time. The same is true for myself.

Take a moment to think about what thriving looks like in your life. Once you do, hold the vision and start moving toward it. It will find you, and you will find it.

I can promise you that if you allow the golden cup to nourish you to that state, you will be happier than you’ve ever been. Thriving. What an incredible word. What an incredible state of being.

 

Image courtesy of porbital / FreeDigitalPhotos.net